Katie Couric's memoir reveals Matt Lauer decrying #MeToo "witch hunt" weeks before his firing, Louis CK offering her a Louie cameo and her fallout with CNN's Jeff Zucker

The Washington Post

Couric recalls in her new memoir Going There -- released next week -- going to dinner with her former Today colleague Lauer in early November 2017, weeks before he was fired from NBC News for sexual misconduct. Couric writes that Lauer mused that “this MeToo stuff feels like it’s getting kind of out of control. It feels like a witch hunt," according to The Washington Post, which obtained an early copy of the book. After the dinner, she sent Lauer a joking message: “Omg what the hell did you put in my drink? Phenobarbital???? Thank you for being such a good friend. I treasure you.” Lauer replied: “The length of our friendship and the comfort that comes with that is more powerful than any drug in a drink!” Couric writes that she knew Lauer was a "player," but "I didn’t know his extracurriculars were happening inside 30 Rock.” She writes that she later learned of a “secret office called ‘The Bunker’” that was allegedly used by an unidentified male anchor for sexual encounters. Couric also recalls Louis CK offering her cameo on Louie that, in retrospect, was reminiscent of his #MeToo masturbation scandal. “In the scene he pitched, I’m on TV, reading the news, while Louie watches," Couric writes. "And suddenly I break from the broadcast to speak to him directly: ‘Louie, just do it. You know you’re gonna do it. So just take off your pants and get started.’” Another disappointment came when Jeff Zucker, her former executive producer at the Today show and her executive producer on her short-lived daytime talk show Katie, asked her to put in a good word for him as he angled for the CNN president job that he currently has. “And, of course, if you want it, there will be a job for you too," Couric recalls him telling her. He got the big CNN job in late 2012, but Couric writes that she “never heard from him about that job” for her. ALSO: Couric writes she was pitched a night-time MSNBC show, but turned it down because of the late hours.